Conventional Methods
by darthsquirt2
Summary: This is an alternate universe look at a possible ending to the Reaper war. Commander Shepard timed the destruction of the mass relay to coincide precisely with the arrival of the Reaper fleet, destroying a large portion of it, and providing overwhelming evidence of the Reaper's existence. Now the head of a galaxy united, Shepard must win the war through conventional methods.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is an alternate universe look at a possible ending to the Reaper war. In this story, Cmdr. Shepard timed the destruction of the mass relay to coincide precisely with the arrival of the Reaper fleet, destroying a large portion of it. Faced with overwhelming evidence of the Reapers existence, the system's alliance reinstates and promotes the commander and sent her off in the Normandy with the objective of establishing and a system of alliances to combat the Reaper threat. After the successful negotiation of a system of alliances uniting the Geth, Quarians, Turians, Asari, and Krogans, Shepard has been recalled to the Citadel by the Citadel Council. This success did not come without price however;**** the Mars beacon was never fully decrypted, since resources were thrown so hastily into the war effort. The Crucible designs, blueprints to a superweapon capable of targeting and destroying all Reaper forces, were never discovered, Leaving one way to victory for the united races of the galaxy. Through conventional methods.**

* * *

Once more, Shepard stood before the entire Citadel Council in the heart of the stations Presidium. It had been almost 6 months since the destruction of the Bahak system. There she timed the destruction of a mass relay to coincide with the arrival of the Reaper fleet. "

Countless numbers of the millennia old machines were destroyed. Their abundant remains left little doubt the galaxy's mind. The Reapers were real. As colonies from the outskirts of the galaxies slowly disappeared, it was clear that there was still more left. Since then, a newly reinstated Shepard had taken the Normandy from one side of the Milky Way to another, preparing the galaxy for the Reapers.

She'd done everything from cure the Krogan genophage, to peacefully resolving the 300 year long Morning War between the Quarians and their Geth creations. By their return to Council space, most of Shepard's team had left the Normandy. Shepherd was incredibly thankful that Liara had stayed with her, bringing her extensive information network along. She served amicably as the ship's unofficial executive officer.

Sometimes Shepard thought the Asari was the only thing keeping her sane.

"Admiral Shepard." Tevos spoke from her podium. Shepherd sighed. She disliked the title. It was only issued to her as a formality, to allow her to carry out her missions and establish agreements between races with minimal oversight. To tell the truth, she'd gotten used to commander.

"The Council has reviewed your actions as well as the situation we find ourselves in. You and your crew are currently the only forces in the galaxy with extensive combat experience against Reaper forces. Your ship, and your crew have personally seen to the destruction of half a dozen Reapers in combat, as well as the devastation of their main fleet in the Bahak system."

Shepard fidgeted uncomfortably. She always got nervous when someone, especially a politician, started rattling off a list for accomplishments. Doubly so when they left out the negative parts. If she was lucky, they just called her here to formally thank her. If she was unlucky, they called her here to give her an award. If she was_ really_ unlucky, they called for here to _name_ a medal after her. No matter what, she didn't see a way getting out of here without having to make a speech.

"In addition, your actions to prepare the galaxy for the coming threat have resulted in the largest collective military force in galactic history. As such, we hereby bestow upon you the newly created rank of commander of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance division of the Citadel Council."

Shepherd had been wrong. Horribly,_ horribly _wrong. She wished it were just naming a medal after now.

"This position gives you not only immunity from any authority except this Council's, but also grants you command over the military forces of any affiliated race, including the SpecTRe division. You have acted with the utmost integrity in the past, and have been our greatest weapon against the Reaper threat. We can think of none more suited to this position, to lead us to victory."

Shepard scanned the faces of the councilors. Tevos and Udina both looked as politicians of their stations should. Impassive. Quentius, who had replaced Sparatus after Bahak, looked hopeful, contrasting with Valern's sour expression. Shepherd briefly thought that if she hadn't saved his life, he probably would've had her drummed out of the SpecTRe program for her actions on Tuchunka.

"It would be an honor, councilor." Shepard declared, inclining her head slightly.

_"I was just getting used to Commander too."_ Shepard recalled telling Liara after the promotion._ Why in hell did I open my mouth?_

* * *

Three days later, Shepard was still alive, though she wasn't sure how. If it was possible to die from an overload of paperwork, then she'd slipped off sometime last night and hell looked exactly like the inside of her cabin. And the reports, forms, and requests still kept coming. To say nothing of the fan mail.

She didn't notice the door slide open and close, being absorbed in her work as she was.

She checked her mail, hoping for a distraction, only to discover 82 more forms requesting her immediate attention. Shepherd let out an anguished scream.

"If only the Reapers knew about your true weakness." Liara chuckled from behind her. Shepard turned, eager for a reason to abandon her workload, and leaned back in her chair.

"The fleets I have to get familiar with, and whose actions I have to direct. Not to mention I have to formulate a working battle strategy that will stand up to combat with Reapers. I'm not even sure why they gave the job to me." Shepard sighed heavily. "I'm a SpecTRe, a former Marine sniper attached to the engineering corps, and a N7." What qualifies me for this?"

"Perhaps one of the councilors for about your maneuver at the battle of Tanaab?" Liara asked, chuckling as she moved to sit on the couch in the slight depression below Shepard's workspace.

Shepard joined her, and together they sat quietly looking out of the transparent aluminum square in the ceiling watching the Doppler effect intersect with the mass effect in a stunning light around the ship's hull.


	2. Chapter 2

The Ghost of Torfan drifted around the batarian homeworld of Kar'sharn in a stable orbit, the system's sun just beginning to appear around the edge of the separate naval groups, most of the Hegemony's armada, stood at post around the system. A bastion against all who would dare threaten stability in the sector. Balak stood on the carrier's bridge, hands clasped firmly behind his back, looking out upon his home world.

"Perform another scan." He ordered.

The bridge crew grumbled at the command. Performing a thorough system scan took up the better part of forty minutes, and the captain had them performed every hour, the hour. It was a pointless effort in their minds; the system already had a system of strategically placed long range scanners that would catch any incoming signatures far before they could. It wasn't their job to scan for subspace anomalies.

After several moments of inaction, Balak narrowed his eyes. "It wasn't a request." He stated coldly.

Though the Hegemony had ordered the majority of its forces back to the homeworld, they'd remained tight lipped as to the reasons behind the move. Balak knew what concerned them. It wasn't exactly a secret what was happening in the rest of the galaxy. The Council was busy spreading rumors about the mythical "reapers" and the threat they supposedly posed to the galaxy. They even went so far as to put the 'united' forces under that scarta, Shepard.

The majestic Council, which spat on the batarians' cries for assistance during the Skillain Blitz, the ones who watched as the Alliance butchered the Hegemony's allies and equipment at Torfan, and allowed humanity to claim planets that rightfully would've belonged to the Hegemony. The Council that tried to stop the slave trade in the Attican Traverse, which would've crippled the batarians economically, had now gathered a massive military to combat a nonexistent threat, conveniently located in Hegemony space.

Balak didn't trust any of them, and recognized their clear ploy to lever more concessions out of the Hegemony, and increase their influence in the Traverse, with force if necessary.

He would lead the fleet into the heart of the Council's precious Citadel if need be, and burn it all. Just as he would've done to Terra Nova.

Balak was torn from his visions of glorious conquest by a surprised shout from one of the bridge crew.

"Captain!" The officer shouted frantically. "We have incoming signatures! Hundreds of them!"

Balak grimaced.

'Those treacherous Council bastards!' He mentally raged. 'Come and get us, we're waiting for you.'

But it wasn't a Council, Alliance, krogan, quarian, or even geth fleet that appeared on the edge of the system. Instead, giant vessels reminiscent of the fabled "Leviathan of Dis" appeared on his display.

"By Soras," One of the duty officers gasped. "They're reapers."

Within moments of their appearance, fleetcomm blared to life. "The reapers!" A groundside admiral joyously exclaimed. "They are here! Our delivery from the tyranny of the Council is at hand!" A thousand other voices cried out, similarly hailing the ancient machines' arrival.

Immediately, close to two thirds of the fleet turned and began to fire point blank into nearby ships.

"Kinetic barriers, now!" Balak shouted.

The mass effect core thrummed to life seconds before a hasty salvo of guardian point defense lasers splashed across the view screen.

"Lieutenant Tarh," Balak turned towards the officer manning the communications station. "Find out what the hell is going on!"

The officer keyed in a frequency, tuning out the frantic chatter cluttering the comms.

Balak returned his gaze to the display, watching the fleet rip itself apart.

The Kasaq took three mass driver rounds in quick sucession, tearing it in half Tornas drifted, its mass effect core dead, atmosphere leaking from a dozen hull ruptures. The Ekav passed by it at low speed, using its guardian lasers to vaporize launching escape shuttles.

"Captain, the Voman is approaching us at full burn." A deck hand shouted from Balak's left.

"Sir, the Hegemony himself has ordered a complete surrender to the reapers!" His comm operator called out moments later.

Balak sat and slammed a fist into his captain's chair. "Damn it all! Deploy our fighters. We need a screen." 'And I need time to think.'

"Confirmed." The ops station reported. "Vorcha wings one through eight have been cleared for launch."

Balak watched as a field dotted with the bright specks of exhaust fumes blossomed in front of The Ghost of Torfan.

Beads of fire erupted along the Voman's hull. In its haste to fire upon its comrades, it had devoted all power to its main weapons. Unsheilded, and at knife fighting range, the fighters easily outclassed the cruiser's subpar point defenses. The pilots tore the vessel apart.

'Serves the traitorous varren born right.' Balak thought grimly.

The Vorman veered away, leaving a trail of molten wreckage in its wake.

Balak's triumph was short lived as two ships from his battle group, his escorts, began falling toward the planet, fires catching along their hull as they entered the atmosphere.

"Captain, the reapers are only five minutes out." Sensors reported.

"Don't call them that!" Balak growled. "That is a ploy by the Council to cow the galaxy into submission."

He turned back to the main screen, his hands balled tightly into fists, teeth clenched.

He watched as the Hegemony's fleet burned in orbit.

Finally, he cast his gaze downward and sighed. "Order a withdraw. All ships still helmed by the sane are to regroup at the system's edge. Send a message over civilian channels. Anyone who has the means to flee the planet, is to join."

The bridge officers paused to stare, dumbfounded, many of them frozen in mid action, at their commanding officer. A nearby cruiser erupte into a brief ball of flame, and two mass driver rounds glanced off of The Ghost of Torfan's failing barriers.

"Move you worthless par'sarks!" Balak screamed at them. "Helmsman, take us out of orbit."

He turned back to the view screen once more, watching his burning homeworld roll out of view.


End file.
